Stephen McClurg's Blog, page 26
February 3, 2023
Marginalia #20
Footprints on the Moon (1975) has some stylish moments and a few amazing images to offer, but not much else. It’s not terrible, not terribly exciting either. I prefer something like Messiah of Evil, which doubles down on the weirdness.
I can’t vouch for everything by Bruno Mattei because like most Italian exploitation directors of a certain era, he made tons of films in various genres. The few I’ve seen are sweet little treats, though I can see why he is not as recognized as Fulci, et al. Ludicrous. Hilariously bad. This Robocop/Predator mashup features a lot of walking and stalking in the jungle to pad out screen time. Comical beep-boop-akakakak sound effects from our metal predator. They use about 200 rounds to kill one sniper–who was–spoiler alert–already dead!
Nerd city. Bass pictures, history, and dorky jokes. I loved it! A birthday present from my wife. I devoured it in part of an afternoon, but it’s also a beautiful reference. Gorgeous pictures of the recognizable and the one-of-a-kind.
Tony Williams changed drumming. I’m not the biggest fusion fan, so I’ve been late to hear Lifetime. I loved this one. Art songs meet jazz meet psych rock. I’ve heard many say they hate his singing, but it reminded me of Robert Wyatt’s approach for some reason and I like it.
Suzanne Ciani live on the Buchla in 2019! A Sonic Womb is a performance from the Lapsus Festival in Barcelona. The version I have allows you to hear the performance in multiple tracks or as a single one. She’s a true pioneer in electronic music, sound design, etc. I love her documentary film scores.
Taylor has been setting up free improv shows in Birmingham and I try to get to every one I can. This record is a tribute to Davey Williams, an artist missed in town and around the world. One of the great things about Taylor, besides his persistence and patience in booking these shows, is his sense of humor, which certainly connects him to Davey’s legacy.
Cinema Blue is also an improvised record featuring the same personnel as above. Gorgeous cover by Turner Williams, Jr.
My kids got a kick out of the bird calls.
A new Musicalia playlist for those interested. Get sad with RayonBase. Get pumped with Mandy, Indiana. Bliss out with Kali Malone.
January 27, 2023
Marginalia #19
I’ve enjoyed reading about Japanese culture and film for almost thirty years now. Most of this book offers a type of Stoicism that made me wonder if it was its own strain or if the Ancient Stoics had been translated in Japan by then. Interestingly, at this time, roughly early 1700s, there were cries that men had become too feminine. And even in Ancient Greek texts, they pine about the Good Old Days when men were men. Trivia: featured in Ghost Dog (1999).
Here are two excerpts that are not exactly Stoic.
“The warriors of old cultivated mustaches, for as proof that a man had been slain in battle, his ears and nose would be cut off and brought to the enemy’s camp. So that there would be no mistake as to whether the person was a man or woman, the mustache was also cut off with the nose.”
“If you cut a face lengthwise, urinate on it, and trample on it with straw sandals it is said that the skin will come off. That was heard by the priest Gyojako when he was in Kyoto. It is information to be treasured.”
And people say classics are boring.
Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) is considered the second feature-length ethnographic film ever made after Nanook of the North. Created by the team who would go on to make King Kong. It follows the Bakhtiari tribe as they trek over areas of what is now Iran. It’s much better and more interesting than I thought it would be.
Blacula is an all-time favorite of mine, so I had some hopes for Blackenstein (1973). Those were dashed early on, but I still had fun with this one and will watch it again. There was such possibility with the set-up, but the film is not interested in making a statement. It’s interesting to watch all the ways it chooses to creatively fail.
A Black war vet is seriously wounded in war and everyone resents him, except his loving girlfriend. She happens to work with a ridiculous surgeon who may be able to save him (sew legs and arms on him). But his questionable assistant has fallen in love with the poor vet’s girlfriend and decides to hamper the recovery.
I have one more review to get in before I wrap up my time at the Film Maudit 2.0 Festival. Thanks to everyone there for allowing me to cover so many great new filmmakers and movies. Thanks to Stewie at Horror DNA for throwing the gig to me! I’m better prepared for covering another festival if I get the chance. Though right now I’m looking forward to getting back to my regular schedule.
Some new reviews from the week:
Film Maudit Shorts Block: Creature Feature
Film Maudit Shorts Block: Birthing Pangs
Film Maudit Shorts: Double Features
A new Musicalia playlist awaits if you’re interested. This one has some David Lee Roth in Spanish, Scatman Crothers, one of my favorite Blue Öyster Cult songs, a favorite from Barbecue Bob, and a new De La Soul single. Some new artists for me on this one: Constant Smiles, Rozi Plain, Abe Partridge, and Billy Nomates.
Really enjoyed coming across this earlier in the week.
January 26, 2023
January 22, 2023
At Horror DNA: Birthing Pangs
Another shorts block from Film Maudit 2.0. Birthing Pangs!
At Horror DNA: Creature Features!
More from the Film Maudit 2.0 Festival. I got to check out one of the shorts blocks: Creature Features!
January 20, 2023
Marginalia #18
That cover/poster will probably tell you as much as you need to know. Either that image draws you in, or you reel with disgust. That last one is the smart decision. It’s not the one I made or ever make when presented with so many cinematic possibilities.
The movie is hysterically stupid and I loved it for that.
I have more reviews coming from the Film Maudit 2.0 Festival. Here are the two most recent: Wild Bones and Agatha.
My review for Monsters, the latest in the Dark Tide series also just went up.
An improvised record with a spoken word/dadaist poet. Though I love both tastes, sometimes they don’t work together. Not sure what it is, but I’ve really enjoyed this one this week. More about it here.
Red Krayola is one of those bands I’ve heard about more than I’ve heard, so it was a joy to step back into their 1968 release God Bless The Red Krayola and All Those Who Sail With It. Homemade psych rock with experimental edges. Could have influenced the sonics and the assaults of Sun City Girls or the freaky folk of early Michael Hurley.
A new track for the Disquiet Junto project. Details here.This week’s playlist features a couple of salutes. The Byrds’ “I See You” for David Crosby and “Solid State Survivor” for Yukihiro Takahashi, the drummer and vocalist for the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Both highly influential artists, but in very different ways.
Several new releases I hope to get to this weekend, including new Kali Malone, John Cale, and a new Nyege Nyege Tapes release by Rain Treanor and Ocen James.
At Horror DNA: Monsters Review
You can read the review at Horror DNA.
January 19, 2023
At Horror DNA: Agatha Review
Another review from the Film Maudit 2.0 festival for Horror DNA. I think this is the first official one as a staff writer.
January 15, 2023
New Sounds: “ignis fatuus” / Disquiet Junto 0576
Disquiet Junto Project 0576: Casual Resolution
The Assignment: Get a musical New Year’s resolution out of the way.
Step 1: Think of something, recording-wise, you want to accomplish musically this year — something you can attempt to accomplish now with the tools you have on hand and a little bit of time.
Step 2: Give the goal you set for yourself a go right now. Take a first stab at something that might, of course, require concerted effort over the remainder of the year to really make progress on. The first step is often the most difficult. Why not get it out of the way now?
My resolution is to learn more about synthesizers. I attempted to use the VCV Rack and was able to generate tones, but couldn’t quite figure out recording. I wasn’t thrilled with what I had done anyway, which is a great thing about this prompt–it’s about process.
I then decided to try to make a patch using what I learned from VCV and apply it to the Moog Model 15 app that I knew I could open in Logic. My track is an improvisation using the patch I made.
More on this 576th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Casual Resolution (The Assignment: Get a musical New Year’s resolution out of the way), at: https://disquiet.com/0576/
More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0576-casual-resolution/
At Horror DNA: Wild Bones Review
My latest review from Film Maudit 2.0 is of Wild Bones.
